Kategoriarkiv: Niklas

Classic FTW: Angelic – It’s My Turn

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrzCvsORCWA&w=680&h=491]

This weeks track was from the beginning a remix for another group and later re-released from the remixers as their own track. I’m talking about Angelic – It’s My Turn. (Buy the 2009 version on Itunes)

Lyrics:

Why start to worry
About the hands of fate
When right before your eyes
It becomes to late

I’ve learnt to ignore them
When they bring me down
I’m warned that vicious people
Fool around

It’s my turn
It’s my turn

It’s my turn
It’s my turn (It’s my turn)

Goosebump-points:

0:02 when the vocals start
0:30 when the chorus starts
1:48 when the main vocals start again
2:18 when the chorus cames in again

Angelic is Julius O’Riordan (better known as Judge Jules), Amanda O’Riordan (Judge Jules’s wife) and Darren Tate. This article will focus on Darren Tate though.

English born Darren Tates musical background started out as a classically trained musician. His first release came with the Angelic project in 2000 and has since then worked under a few different aliases.

Angelic’s It’s My Turn was released in June of 2000 with vocals by Amanda and became a huge hit and peaked at no 11 in the UK Singles Charts and stayed on the chart for 10 weeks.
Its My Turn was built on Angelic’s remix for Sunscreem’s track called Change which was released in early 2000. It’s My Turn was re-released in 2009 with fresh remixes.

The single was followed in 2001 with 2 new tracks, Can’t Keep Me Silent and Stay With Me, both dis well in the UK Singles charts

After the 3 tracks, the group split up and they all went their separate ways.

While in Angelic, Darren released a 3 releases under the name Orion. Eternity and New World EP was both released in 2000 wile See Me Here came the year after. The project re-emerged in 2011 with the album Electronic Witchcraft with 10 all new tracks.

After Orion, Darren released one track as Citizen Caned called The Journey. If you listen closely, you can almost hear whats up next.

In 2002, Darren worked under the name Jurgen Vries and the first track, The Theme became a major hit all and peaked at no 13 in the UK charts and was played by all major Djs all over the world. The track has also influented many artists over the year, for instance a new track by Filo & Peri called Sub Zero. Cosmic Gate also released an own version of The Theme in 2011.

The second track from Jurgen Vries was The Opera Song (Brave New World) with singer Charlotte Church. When the track first was released, the singing was only credited to CMC when it first was released as Charlotte’s record label wouldn’t wanna be connected to the track if it flopped as it was a big change from her classical singing to pop. There were alot of speculations who sung on the track under the mysterious guise and many people guesses on Kylie Minogue or Christina Aguilera. The Opera Song peaked at no 3 in the UK singles charts in 2003.

After The Opera Song, Darren released the track Destination under the new project name DT8 with singer Roxanne Wilde. The track peaked at no 23 in the UK Singles Chart

The third single from Jurgen Vries, Wilderness came out in 2003 and featured Shena on vocals, It did fairly well and peaked at no 20 in the UK Charts.

The last single from Jurgen Vries was Take My Hand with Andrea Britton on vocals. The track was a cover of Dido’s track with the same name. Peaked at no 23 in the UK Charts.

From 2003, Darren put all his focus on his DT8-project, later named just DT8 Project.
The secnd single from DT8 was The Sun Is Shining (Down On Me) and featured singer Rob Li. The track was another chart-success and peaked at no 17 in the UK Singles Charts in 2004.

Winter, with singer Andrea Britton was released in march of 2005 also became another chart-success and peaked at no 35 in the UK Singles Chart.

African singer Mory Kante was featured on the single Narama released in 2006.

One of my favourite DT8-tracks came out the year after. Hold Me Till The End with singer Alexta. Her moaning vocals makes the track magical. The album Perfect World was released the same year and features another stunning track by Alexta, Tomorrow Never Comes but it wasn’t released as a single.
The album also got voted the most inspiring and original electronica album of the year.

The last single, The Power Of One was released the same year.

While releasing under aliases, Darren has also released quite a bunch under his own name.

Darren Tate vs Marcella Woods – Lifted came out in 2001 and was followed by the epic track Darren Tate vs Jono Grant (of Above & Beyond-fame) – Let The Light Shine In (with singer Shirley Randall). Let The Light Shine In was first released as a double-feature with Darren Tate vs Mike Koglin – Now Is The Time in 2002 and later re-released as an own single.

2003 saw the EP’s Gracelands Episode 1 & Prayer For A God (Gracelands Episode 2) and later the same year another collaboration with Jono Grant called Nocturnal Creatures.
The single-release of Darren Tate vs Mike Koglin – Now Is The Time was also released the same year.

The next collaboration came with Blue Amazon vs Darren Tate – The Other Love. The original version by Blue Amazon is an old favourite of mine and the remix only makes the track better.

The 2005 EP, Horizons 01 was followed in 2006 by the first feature album Horizons 01 which contained all the singles so far.
.
The EP Elephant (Are You Ready) / Pulse came the same year and was followed by the EP Echoes / Chori Chori the year after.

The EP Horizons 02 came out in 2008 and was followed in 2009 by the second artist album with the same name. The EP When The Morning Comes / Reverse The Silence came out the same year.

The Midnight EP came out in 2010 along with Tokyo / Vespers.
2011 saw the release of The Eternal along with the Horizons 03 EP.

In 2011, Darren started on 2 new projects, one with Boy George and Marc Vedo called Funkysober, another one with Harry Diamond called Tate & Diamond.
Funkysober has to date released one single, Sunshine Into My Life (with singer Sharlene Hector)
Tate & Diamond has released 2 singles so far, Turn It Back and Electrified (with singer Nicolai)

If Darren follows the same pattern as before, we should se the new artist album Horizons 03 sometime this year.

As many of these articles, I’d have to say that the best material from Darren Tate came out from 2000-2006. Darren is a brilliant producer and I love the sound that he had in the past. Can’t say that i’ve listened much to his latest material but I guess I have to give it a chance. After all, he’s achieved over 10 top 40 tracks and sold over 10.000.000 units in total. That stands for quality in my book.

Classic FTW: Fragma – Toca’s Miracle (Inpetto 2008 Remix)

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko-V7FCHJvA&w=680&h=491]

This weeks classic also comes from two german brothers. Its not often that your first release also becomes your biggest success. The original track was released back in 1999 but this remix is abit newer. Actually, the youngest classic so far. The track i’m talking about is Fragma – Toca’s Miracle (Inpetto 2008 Remix).

Lyrics:

If you’re gonna save the day
And you’re hearin’ what I say
I feel your touch
Your kiss, it’s not enough
And if you believe in me
Don’t think my love’s not for real
I won’t take nothin’ less then a deeper love

[Chorus:]
Let me tell you, you know
Aah, I need a miracle
I need a miracle
It’s more than physical
What I need to feel from you
Let me tell you, you know
Aah, I need a miracle
I need a miracle
It’s more than physical
What I need to get me through

Tell me that you understand
And you’ll take me as I am
You’ll always be the one to give me everything
Just when I thought no one cared
You’re the answer to my prayer
You lift my spirits high
Come on and rescue me

[Repeat Chorus x2]

Goosebump points:
1.01 when that guitarsound comes in
1.41 when the vocals ”Toca Me” comes in
2.40 when the Toca Me-vocals comes in for the second time and later the music fades down
3.10 when Coco’s vocals comes in and the guitar-sound starts again
4.17 when the vocals Toca Me comes in again and the drums restart together with
the rest of the music
5.15 when the chorus starts
5.46 when the music fades down
6.15 when the chorus starts again

Fragma is brothers Dirk and Marco Duderstadt together with monster producer Ramon Zenker.

Ramon Zenker is well known name in musical productions as he’s been apart of some cool projects like Bellini, Fragma, Interactive, Hardfloor, Mega’Lo Mania, Paffendorf, STFU & Tom Tom just to name a few. He has also done remixes for the likes of Mike Oldfield, Paul van Dyk, The Shamen, Scooter, Mylene Farmer, Jam & Spoon, Depeche Mode, Yello & New Order.

This article will focus more on the Duderstadt-brothers though, known under the Fragma-name aswell as Inpetto and Duderstadt.

Dirk & Marco Duderstads first release ever was the now-epic Fragma – Toca Me. The track did well in the charts and topped several charts worldwide including the no 11 position on the UK Single Charts.

A fun fact is that there was an original mix done in 1999 with almost the same name, but then spelled as In Petto Remix

But then something wierd happened. Around this time, it was very popular to do mashups i.e. taking the backingtrack of one track and re-arranging it with new vocals from a different track.

A DJ named DJ Vimto did just that and took Toca Me and put on the vocals of gospel-singer Coco Star’s 1997 hit single I Need A Miracle (written by the legendary producers Rob Davis & Victor Imbres) and named it Toca’s Miracle. The original bootleg was supported by legendary DJ’s Pete Tong and Judge Jules.

The track did so well that Fragma’s Label, Positiva decided to release it with re-recorded vocals by Coco which was possible due to both artists were under the same label.

The track, released in April 2000 became a monster all over the world and went straight to number 1 in the UK Singles Chart as well as in most of the worlds dance charts. With the success of Toca Me/Toca’s Miracle, Fragma became a name known all over the world. In fact, the original version was the 7th best selling single of 2000 in the UK and was promoted Worldwide in live sets by official vocalist Coco Star.

The second single, Everytime You Need Me (with singer Maria Rubia) also did well in the charts and spiked the UK Singles Chart at no 3. The third single, You Are Alive (with singer Damae) also did well and ranked no 4 in the UK Charts.

All three singles were featured on the 2001 album, Toca which landed the top 20-spot in Scandinavia and the top 40-spot in the UK.

At the same time as the Fragma album and hit singles, the brothers decided to work on a side-project, producing under the name Duderstadt. The first releases were remixes of other artists tracks.

2000 – Monoculture – Light Of My Life (Duderstadt Remix)
2001 – Fragma – Say That You’re Here (Duderstadt Remix)
2002 – Fragma – Time And Time Again (Duderstadt Remix)
2002 – Fragma – Embrace Me (Duderstadt Remix)
2002 – Mega lo’Mania – Emotion (Duderstadt Remix)

In 2002, Duderstadt also set up their own studio called Evergreen-Terrace and also started working on the second Fragma album, Embrace which spawned the singles Say That You’re Here, Embrace Me, Man In The Moon and Time And Time Again.

My favourite of these is the 2003 single Man In The Moon which is a remake of one of my biggest personal favourite-tracks, Energy 52 – Cafe Del Mar, but with vocals by Damae. The track isn’t a good as the original Cafe Del Mar-track but still worth noticing. The release was also known as Mar In The Moon (which implies on the Cafe Del Mar-connection).

Between 2003 and 2006, the brothers mostly worked under the Duderstadt-moniker.
First single, Sunrise was released in 2003 and followed by Mahananda in 2005.
2006 saw the release of third Duderstadt-single, Muhanjala. The same year also saw a new Fragma-release with singer Kirsty Hawkshaw, called Radio Waves. This was also the year that they changed record label to the fast-growing german imprint Afterglow Records. The new tracks and the move to the label also gave Duderstadt major DJ support by the likes of Paul Van Dyk, Armin & Ferry Corsten.

The fourth Duderstadt single, Smile (with singer Anita Kelsey) became a big club hit and was named both the Tune of the Week & Future Favourite on Armin van Buuren’s A State Of Trance-radio show. It also was voted Web Vote Winner on Above & Beyond’s Trance Around The World-radio show, The single was followed by Beatitude (with singer Kirsty Hawkshaw) which also got major DJ-support all over the world.

Since 2007, mosr effort has been put on remixes. And man, have they released some quality stuff.
Here are some of my favourite picks:

2007 – Boom Jinx – Remember September (Duderstadt Remix)
2008 – Oceanlab – Breaking Ties (Duderstadt Progressive Remix)
2008 – The Thrillseekers – The Last Time (Duderstadt Remix)
2008 – Mr. Pit – Shana (Duderstadt Progressive Dub)
2008 – Armin van Buuren – If You Should Go (Inpetto vs. Duderstadt Remix)
2008 – Solarstone – Spectrum (Duderstadt Uplifting Remix)
2008 – DJ Shog – Feel Me (Duderstadt Uplifting Remix)
2008 – George Acosta f. Aruna – Falling Backwards (Duderstadt Uplifting Rmxs)
2009 – Cosmic Gate feat. Aruna – Under Your Spell (Duderstadt Remix)
2009 – Ferry Corsten – Made Of Love (Duderstadt Progressive Remix)
2010 – Oliver Smith – Chordplay (Duderstadt Progressive Mix)
2010 – Ronski Speed pres. Sun Decade – Lasting Light ft. Emma Hewitt (Duderstadt Remix)
2010 – Mike Shiver & Aruna – Everywhere You Are (Duderstadt Remix)
2011 – SHato & Paul Rockseek – Wonderfooled (Duderstadt Remix)
2012 – Mark Eteson & Meredith Call – Together (Duderstadt Remix)

If I had to pick one favourite of the Duderstadt Remixes, I’d have to choose Mike Shiver & Aruna – Everywhere You Are (Duderstadt Remix). Released in 2010 and already a classic in my mind!

2008 saw Duderstadt collaborating with Store N Forward for the single Broken. I especially love the Nitrous Oxide Remix which is a pure uplifting monster.
The 2010 single Stranded In NYC was a sweet progressive track in the style of the recent Duderstadt-remixes.
In 2011, Duderstadt collaborated with legend Nic Chagall (of Cosmic Gate fame) and singer Relyk for Alone With You. A really sweet vocal track imho.
The same year also saw the singles Yanooa and Painted Red (with singer Hannah Ray). The latter, another sweet progressive vocal track.

2008 saw the re-release of Toca Me/Toca’s Miracle with fresh remixes from the brothers-side project, Inpetto aswell as remixes from Richard Durand. Again, the track did well in the charts and a new Video for the single was also produced. The new single Memory was also released the same year, Memory sounds more like an Impetto-track as its sound is based on the re-release of Toca Me/Toca’s Miracle.

Since Memory, most releases has been fresh versions of old singles.
Everytime You Need Me got a 2011 re-release, Even Tocas Miracle got a 2012 re-release.
2012 has also seen 2 new singles so far, Thousand Times (with singer Damae) and the newest track, Where Do We Go (with singer Damae).

I can’t say that I like the new Fragma-sound, it’s way too commercial for me. But I definately love the Duderstadt-sound, especially from 2008 and onwards. Let’s hope that they will continue on both projects side by side. Atleast so I can get my daily dose of quality Duderstadt-remixes for a while longer.

Classic FTW: York – Farewell To The Moon (En Motion Remix)

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bxz-8g5ePg&w=680&h=376]

This weeks article is focused on two brothers from Germany. They have both been involved in various projects over the years but the project and the track i’m thinking of is York – Farewell to the Moon (En Motion Remix). (Buy on Itunes)

York is German brothers Jörg and Torsten Stenzel. Both have been active in the music scene since the early 90’s.

Torsten Stenzel started playing the piano at the age of 5 and later turned to church organs where he recieved his organist diploma at the age of 15 when graduating from the prostentant church in Frankfurt. Meanwhile Jörg focused on stringed instruments.

Torstens first step into dancemusic came with the 1990 release Recall IV – Contrast, though he’s not credited as a writer on the track because his partner at the time forgot to mention him because of his lack of knowledge of the music industry.. Only ”mixed by Torsten Stenzel” appeared on the credits.

After becoming A&R for the record label Crash Records, he released N.U.K.E. – Nana with partner Zied Jouini. The track went straight to No1 in Italy and No3 in Benelux.

His collaboration with DJ Taucher came in 1993 with the single, Happiness but it wasn’t until the release of the second single, Atlantis that the real rise to fame came.
Later in 1993 he formed his first own underground label, Liquid Records just to be able to release whatever he choose to. It was also at this time he started collaborating with Oliver Lieb with the project, Paragliders.

Except from Oliver Lieb, he also worked with Booka Shade, DJ Tatana, Dj Taucher, Talla 2XLC and DJ Sakin.

In 1995 Torsten bought the rights to Planet Love Records to focus on developing a trancier sound together with Dj Taucher. Their first release on the label, Fantasy was licensed to Sony Dance Pool and later became a top 50-single in the german charts.

Toghether with Dj Taucher, Torsten had remixed over 52 different artists and was named ’worldwide third best remixers’ in 1997 by Raveline magazine. An example was their remix of Faithless – God Is A DJ, a huge success which topped the charts worldwide.

The project York was born in 1997 with their first single, The Awakening released on Talla2XLC’s label, Suck Me Plasma. The single reached no 11 in the UK chart. What did the track special was that it was the first trance track ever to be released with an electric guitar as a lead instrument. The single sold over 250.000 copies The guitar, played by Jörg has been a key instrument in all York-releases.

The second release, York featuring Jamila – Jastamba was another guitar-driven track. Though not as successful, it established the York sound. The same year, Torsten collaborated with Sakin Bozkurt a.k.a. DJ Sakin for the project DJ Sakin & Friends. Their first release, Protect Your Mind was a clubversion of a James Horner-track off the Braveheart-soundtrack. The track became an instant success and was played by every major DJ all over the globe. Protect Your Mind hit the No1 spot on the German dancechart and also No3-position on the German music sales chart. It sold Gold, Silver & Platinum in most european countries. The track sold over 700.000 copies worldwide.

The second single from DJ Sakin & Friends, Nomansland did pretty well but not near the success of Protect Your Mind. It landed on No10 in the German charts and No16 in the UK charts.
The track was a rework of the track Vladimir Cosma – David’s Song.
They had a hard time struggling with the success of Protect Your Mind to find so they trashed the project after the album Walk On Fire was released. The Album itself did pretty well in the charts.

The really big breakthough for York came in 1999 with the release of On The Beach, which is a remake of Chris Reas old anthem with the same name. The first vinyl was On The Beach and on the B-side was the track The Reachers Of Civilisation but later the same year there was a real release with alot of remixes. The mix that made the video-edit was the CRW remix (by italian Mauro Picotto amongt others). The single reached no 4 in the UK charts and became a worldwide hit. Chris Rea was amazed that this version had outsold his 1986 original that he pushed for the single and later performed with York at the British Top Of The Pops-show.

At this time, Torsten had moved to Ibiza and established his studio there.

The followup to On The Beach was the 2000 single Fields Of Love together with André Tanneberger a.k.a. ATB who also sings on the track. The track became another huge hit worldwide.

The same year also saw the single Farewell To The Moon (with vocalist Pat Appleton). Farewell To The Moon became another big hit and its also my favourite from York, especially the En Motion-remix by Steve Helstrip which gives me that summery feeling and a driving beat that just makes you wanna dance. The single also features remixes by Watergate and ATB.

2001 saw Yorks first album, Experience and later the single-release of The Reachers Of Civilization. First released as a B-side to On The Beach but now with an awesome remix-pack from Rank 1 and Push. The same year also saw the release of the single Silence which contains a sample from Héroes del Silencios single Entre Dos Tierras. Silence was re-released 2002 with vocals by Alaska and renamed Yesterday (Silence).

In 2004, York released I Need You and later the same year, a collaboration with Roger Shah under the name DJ Shah Meets York – Sunset Road / Dead Drummer. When Roger Shah later released his Sunlounger-singles, White Sand & Aguas Blancas Jörg was featured on Guitar. He was also featured on most of the Sunlounger 2007 album, Another Day On The Terrace

The year after saw the new album, Peace and the single York feat Angelina – Iceflowers
.
In 2006 York released their last single, Mercury Rising and later York took a break.

Jörg worked on some productions with Roger Shah and Torsten worked on various projects which included Finnish rock singer Tarja Turunen (from the group Nightwish), Jennifer Paige, All Saints, Nelly Furtado & Joss Stone together with production partner Rick Nowels.

2010 saw the return of York. The first single, DreamMan featuring York – Moonrise On The Beach released on Laurent Veronnez’s label, Green Martian.

In 2011, York moved to Armin Van Buuren’s Armada Music Label and released York feat. Brandon Jones – Wanna Be Known and in 2012, the release Touched By God saw the light of day. Later in 2012 will see the release of the new album, Islanders

I still think the typical York-sound sounds fresh even today. As long as Jörg plays his typical guitar, you can still hear the distinct York-sound which once made them famous. The future looks bright for them and hopefully they’ll keep their sound for many more years.

Classic FTW: Delerium feat Jaël – After All (Svenson & Gielen Remix)

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lckszwixLc&w=680&h=491]

This weekends classic comes from a very odd background. Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber, 2 guys from an Canadian EBM-band Front Line Assembly formed a side-project in 1987 to jump on the popular spritual Enigma-wave with angelic voices and munk-chanting but ended up as the trance-remixers favourite band. The track i’m talking about is Delerium feat. Jael – After All (Svenson & Gielen Remix). (Buy on Itunes)

Lyrics:

She knows the voices in her mind
They tell her
To leave

She’s tired of smiling madly
Until silence becomes very silently
A noise in her mind

After all she has nothing inside
No good to give
No meaning to live
The mist engulfed tonight
Every single star

After all they shared
How could he simply say no
After all they shared
He turned away from her to go
She said she wouldn’t cry
That was really just a lie

She knows the noises in her mind
Nothing’s left but
Screaming silence

After all she feels numbness inside
The feeling’s gone
She’s upside down
The pictures behind her closed eyes
This time you went too far

After all they shared
How could he simply say no
After all they shared
He turned away from her to go
She said she wouldn’t cry
That was really just a lie

After all they shared
How could he simply say no
After all they shared
He turned away from her to go
She said she wouldn’t cry
That was really just a lie

After all she has nothing inside
No good to give
No meaning to live
The mist engulfed tonight
Every single star

After all they shared
How could he simply say no
After all they shared
He turned away from her to go
She said she wouldn’t cry
That was really just a lie

After all they shared
How could he simply say no (simply say no)
After all they shared
He turned away from her to go
She said she wouldn’t cry
That was really just a lie

After all they shared
How could he simply say no (simply say no)
After all they shared
He turned away from her to go
She said she wouldn’t cry
That was really just a lie

After all they shared
How could he simply say no (how could he simply say no)
After all they shared (after all)
He turned away from her to go (he just turned away)
She said she wouldn’t cry
That was really just a lie

Goosebump points:

0:58 when the bassline kicks in
1:27 when the vocals start
1:54 when the vocals change
2:37 when the breakdown starts
2:51 when the chorus starts
3:38 when the chorus comes again and the music builds
5:49 at the second breakdown when the chorus kicks in and the buildup thereafter

Delerium was formed in 1987 by Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber, and their first release was the 1988 album, Faces, Forms And Illusions. After this, they released a bunch of albums and singles.

The group has always been a duo but the lineup has changed over the years although Bill Leeb has always been the key character. After the release of the album Karma, Rhys Fulber quit the group and Chris Peterson came in. With the album Chimera, Fulber came back and stayed for the rest of the albums.

The big breakthrough came with the 1997 album, Karma which featured the single Silence (with singer Sarah Mclachlan). The single was released in 1998 and later peaked at no1 in the irish chart the year after. The cool thing is that it was the Airscape-remix which recieved the radio airplay.

The single was re-released in 2000 with remixes by Tiësto, Fade and Airscape and did even better in the charts worlwide. Tiesto’s In Search Of Sunrise-remix became one of trance biggest anthems and is still played by most trance-djs worldwide. It is one of those track that most people sing along with when they hear it played in a club. The single has since being re-released in 2004 (with remixes by Above & Beyond), 2006 (with remixes by Filterheadz) and in 2008 (with remixes by Niels van Gogh and Thomas Gold).

Worth noticing is that the Filterheadz-remix is often mislabeled as Trentmoller 2006 remix, which doesn’t excist.

The huge success of Silence ended in most delerium-singles after this being remixed for the dancefloors.

The next single, Heaven’s Earth (with singer Kristy Thirsk), released in 1999 also did well in the charts and was late remixed by Matt Darey in 2000.

2000 also saw the release of the album, Poem.

The followup-single was the 2001 single, Innocente (with singer Leigh Nash from the band Sixpence Non The Richer) which also did well in the charts and peaked at no 3 in the US Dancechart. The remix-package was delivered by Tiesto, Lost Witness, Deep Dish and Mr. Sam.
The official single and video-release was the Lost Witness edit

The year after saw the single Underwater (with singer Rani). Again, the single did well in the charts and peaked at no 9 on the US Dancechart. Underwater came with a remix-package from Rank 1 & Above & Beyond. The official single and video-release is the Above & Beyond edit.

After All (with singer Jaël) came out in 2003 was the first single from the new album, Chimera. The new album focused more on pop-music than the former album. The track also came with a remix-package from Svenson & Gielen and Satoshi Tomiie. The track didn’t do that well in the charts, but did peak at no 9 in the US Dancechart. The official single and video-release was released in 2 versions, one as album version and one as the Svensson & Gielen edit.

The second success from the Chimera-album came with Truly (with singer Nerina Pallot), again did pretty well in the charts and peaked at no 2 in the US Dancechart. The remix-package came with remixes from Infusion and Signum.

The 2007 single Angelicus (with singer Isabel Bayrakdarian) peaked at no1 on the US Dancechart and came with a remix-pack by Andy Moor and Redanka.
It was followed by Lost & Found (with singer Jaël) which peaked at no 4 on the US Dancechart. The remix-package came with a beautiful Blank & Jones-remix). Both tracks were featured on the 2006 album, Nuages du Monde.

The last single from Delerium, Dust In Gravity (with singer Kreesha Turner) was released in 2009 and again peaked at no1 in the US Dancechart. The remix-package was this time delivered by Sultan & Ned Shepard, Nervo and Niels van Gogh vs. Dave Ramone.

IMHO, Deleriums career peaked between 2000-2003, atleast dance-wise. The cool thing with their tracks is that there is always a version that fits your mood. If you’re tired of dancemusic, then put on the albums for some nice ambient chillout. The music and the style of Deleriums original material is timeless and hopefully people will remember them as well as the dancemixes. If not, they will always be remebered for Silence. Because that’s a true classic!

Classic FTW: Signum feat Anita Kelsey – Come Back Again

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW3KNaao8To&w=680&h=376]

This weeks classic track comes from Signum, a duo that has been around for quite some time. They have released some serious gems over the years so it was pretty hard to choose which track to feature but I finally landed om Signum featuring Anita Kelsey – Come Around Again (Extended Vocal Mix) from 2004. (Buy on Itunes)

Lyrics:

Never planned it this way
Never thought I’d see the end of this
fantastic dream.

See you turn towards me,
place your lips on mine,
just one last kiss,
before you leave.

O there’s something there
in the back of my mind
haunting me,
pulling me down.

Going round on empty,
from the sense you made to me,
o what a fool.
It’s come around again,
I’m falling to the sound of my heart
empty sands.

The feeling’s just the same,
when love is ending,
there is nothing like this pain.
And it’s come around again.

It’s come around again.
It’s come around again.

O no, o no, o no

The feeling’s just the same
O no, o no, o no

There is nothing like this pain,
it’s come around again.
It’s come around again,
I’m falling to the sound of my heart
empty sands.

The feeling’s just the same
when love is ending,
there is nothing like this pain
and it’s come around again.

Goosebump points:
0:55 after the music faded up
1.23 when the main melody kicks in
2:19 when everything starts to fade out
2:47 when the main vocals kick in
3:42 when the chorus starts
4:08 ”and its come around again” and the major breakdown with the guitar
5:06 when the whole track starts up again

Dutch duo Ronald Hagen & Pascal Minnaard started their career as Signum back in 1997 with the EP Adaptor, released on Jinx Records-label (formed in 1993 by Randy Katana and a sub-label to BPM Dance.)

Their big success came with the second single, What Ya Got 4 Me. The club-anthem was first released in 1998 but became an even bigger hit with the UK re-release in 2001.
1998 also saw the classic Signum-remixes of ATB – 9PM (Till I Come) & Alice Deejay – Better Off Alone.

1999 saw two new tracks, both collaborations with Scott Mac. The first, Just Do It was pretty good but the second, Coming On Strong became another huge club hit especially after being featured on the legendary club-movie Kevin & Perry Go Large-soundtrack. Check out that movie and don’t forget to listen to the soundtrack, some really cool gems on it. The same year, Signum remixed the classics like Blank & Jones – After Love & Scooter – Faster, Harder, Scooter.

The EP Solar Level was released in 2000, the same year as the signum-remixes of Crispy – In & Out and The Space Brothers – Shine.

The EP Five Yards / Afterglow and the single First Strike came out in 2001, the latter was a huge club success. I especially recommend the Mark Norman remix released in 2003.

2001 was also the year that Signums dj-career started. Their first ever gig was at the legendary Gatecrasher-club in Sheffield and after this, they have played quite alot of dj-gigs worldwide.

The single Cura me, released in 2002 contains a vocal sample from the celtic singer Ailein Duinn. The angelic vocals fits perfectly with the track and give it another dimension. The same year also saw the collaboration with Randy Katana under the name Signum feat Katana – Third Dimension.

In 2003, Signum signed a contract with Armin Van Buuren´s label, Armada Music and their first release was the EP Push Though / Sunny Changes. Push Through became another floor filler.

The year later, Signim teamed up with vocalist Anita Kelsey for the track Come Around Again. Signum themselves has called it ”the track they’ve always wanted to make”. The stunning vocals made it another big smash hit. The same year also saw the release of The Timelord, another epic trancetrack.

The EP Back @ Ya / In Your Face came out in 2005 and the EP What Ya Got 4 Me 2006 / Supersonic came out the year later. The latter feels more like a mini-album as it contains What Ya Got For Me 2006, Supersonic, Second Wave (Signum Signal 2004 Remake), Come Around Again (DJ Danjo & Rob Styles Remix) and Second Wave (Original Mix)

In 2007, Signum released Harmonic / Cloud City and Syndicate / Hit That Note.

In 2008, Pascal Minnaard decided to move to Norway with his fiance. Both Hagen and Minnaard still work together with the help of internet to make new tracks and put togheter sets for their DJ-performances. The same year they also started their monthly radioshow Xposed on Afterhours.FM. They also had the time to release Distant Signature and Royal Flash / Any Given Moment.

The 2009 releases Addicted and Riddles In The Sand (As Ron Hagen & Pascal M) made a huge impact on the clubbers, especially Riddles In The Sand which captures that warmish summery feeling with the stunning guitar-riff and the slower progressive tempo. The Omnia Remix of Riddles In The Sand was IMHO 2009’s best track.

The track made such a huge impact on the whole trance-scene, especially after being featured on Armin Van Buurens compilation A State of Trance 2009 which got them to later perform at A State of Trance 400. This sudden rise to fame again resulted in the collaboration between Roger Shah & Signum called Healesville Sanctuary, another soon-to-be classic.

2010 saw the release of their first album, For You, and the second collaboration with Roger Shah, called Ancient World. It also saw the release of another vocal track, featuring Kate Louise Smith, called Liberate.

They were followed in 2011 with Shamisan and the stunning vocal track Never Be The Same featuring Julie Thompson. I especially love the Myon & Shane Monster Remix of Never Be The Same. It gives me the chills just thinking about it.

The future looks really bright for Signum. They still sound really fresh, even if they’ve been around for 15 years. Hope to see them on tour near me soon, and hope to hear some of their major classics, for they really do have them!

Classic for the weekend: Solarstone – Seven Cities (Atlantis Mix)

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1j_aOZk-v4&w=680&h=376]

This weeks classic is one of the first real trancetracks that I loved. The atmosphere, the guitarr-riff and the african chant gives me shivers just thinking about it. I’m talking about Solarstone – Seven Cities (Solarstone’s Atlantis Remix). (buy on Itunes)

I remember hearing it on some radioshow back in the days and immediately fell for it. That guitarrsound (or whatever to call it) sets the mood together with the atmospheric strings. Sooo epic!

Goosebump-points:

0:00 when the chant starts
1:38 when the background-string starts
2:36 when the first breakdown starts
2:50 when the guitarr starts to play
4:16 when the drums kick in
4:30 when the chant comes back
4:58 when the drum stops and another breakdown starts
5:41 when the drums starts again

Solarstone started out as a trio with Richard Mowatt, Sam Tierny and Andy Bury back in 1994 but their major break came first with the classic anthem Seven Cities in 1999 on Hooj Choons (owned by Red Jerry). The track became an instant classic and has been re-releases a few times over the years with the latest in 2009. Sam Tierny quit Solarstone in 1997, just before their big breakthrough though.

The first release contained the Atlantis Mix and the V-one Remix (by Airwave). The 2000 release contained a stompin’ Michael Woods Remix but the most famous remix by Armin Van Buuren came first in 2002.

The chant in the track comes from the track Tintinnabulum by Adiemus. If you listen to Seven Cities in swedish, it sounds like ”hej, vi packar bajs” which roughly translates to ”hey, we’re stuffing poop”. Rumour has it that the guitarr-riff is picked from an Australian 80´s band called Kids In The Kitchen and their song Change In Mood.

Seven Cities was a major chart-success all over europe and made it to the top 40 in several countries.

A cool fact is that the V-One Remix is said to be the last track Paul Oakenfold ever played during his residency at Cream. Talk about going out with a bang!

Since the release of Seven Cities we’ve seen loads of gems from Solarstone.

Seven Cities was followed up with the single Speak in Sympathy (with vocals from Elizabeth Fields) in 2001.

2002 was the year of the epic EP Solarcoaster / Green Light.

The spoken lyrics in Solarcoaster is by Patricia Arquette and sampled from the Quentin Tarrantino-movie True Romance from 1993.

Lyrics:

I look back and I’m amazed
That my thoughts were so clear and true;
That three words went through my mind endlessly,
Repeating themselves like a broken record…
You’re so cool
You’re so cool
You’re So cool

Solarcoaster became a huuge hit and was released as an own single the year later with remixes from
Greg Murray, Steve Murano and Midway.

I love the original but the Midway remix lifts the track to a completely new level, especially with the spoken lyrics exactly before the big breakdown. It gives me chills just thinking about it.

Solarcoaster was followed by 3 singles together with Scott Bond.
3rd Earth, Naked Angel and Red Line Highway, all released in 2004 and as Scott Bond vs. Solarstone.

In 2005, Richard Mowatt started his own sublabel, Solaris Recordings, a sister to the legendary record label Lost Language and from now on all his releases came out on this label.

The first track on the new label was Eastern Sea in 2005. and came with remixes by First State, Martin Roth and M.O.R.P.H. vs Scirocco Mix just to name a few. The track did fairly well on the dancefloors.

Solarstone – AnthologyOne, the first studio album came out in 2006 and was a Greatest Hits-album and contained all the classics so far. This was also the year that Andy Bury droped off so now it was only Richard Mowatt left.

The same year the single Like A Waterfall was released and featured Jes on vocals. I just love Solarstone’s Deeper Sunrise Version, it’s a pity that it isnt available on Youtube though.

2007 saw the re-release of 1997 single ,The Calling (with Kimberley Marsh on vocals) with new mixes by Orkidea and Jonas Steur. Both remixes are really good but I prefer the Orkidea Piano Mix.

The single, Late Summer Fields (together with Alucard) came out the same year. A cool fact is that the vocals are actually sung by Richard Mowatt himself. The track was re-released in 2009 with an additional remix by Ferry Corsten.

The followup-single was Rain Stars Eternal which came with an epic Agnelli & Nelson remix. The same year saw the release of Solarstones second album with the same title. The album also featured the singles 4ever, Spectrum and Part Of Me (with vocals by Elizabeth Fields).
The Album was followed by the remix album, clevery called Rsemix with great remixes by Probspot, Ferry Corsten and Forerunners just to name a few.

2010 saw the release of the third album, Touchstone and the single with the same name. The single is abit back to basic with major guitarr-riffs like back in the old days. Listen to the Aly & Fila remix, it’s gonna be a huge classic in a couple of years.

The same year also saw the collaboration between Solarstone and Orkidea with the track Slowmotion, and also the single Electric Love (with singer Bill McGruddy).

The singles were followed in 2012 by a new remix-album simply called Touchstone Remixed with remixes by Vadim Zhukov, Tucandeo and Dennis Sheperd just to name a few.

Solarstone has also found the time to remix some classics back in the days. How about these?

Energy 52 – ”Café Del Mar” (Solarstone Remix)
Matt Darey – ”From Russia With Love” (Solarstone’s Red City Mix, Solarstone’s Deep Blue Mix)
Chakra – Home (Solarstone Remix)
Ferry Corsten – Gabriella’s Sky (Solarstone Remix)
Space Manoeuvres – ”Stage One” (Solarstone Remix)
Ferry Corsten (also known as Moonman) – ”Galaxia” (Solarstone Remix)
Planet Perfecto – ”Bullet in the Gun 2000” (Solarstone Remix)
Cygnus X – The Orange Theme (Solarstone Remix)
Paul Oakenfold – ”Southern Sun” (Solarstone’s Afterhours Remix)
Conjure One – ”Center of the Sun” (Solarstone’s Chilled Out Remix)
Filo and Peri pres. Whirlpool – ”Under the Sun” (Solarstone Remix)
Sarah McLachlan – ”World on Fire” (Solarstone’s Afterhours Remix)

Richard was also a part of Young Parisians (together with Andy Bury) who did the 2005 anthem Jump The Next Train.

My feeling is that Solarstone will be around for another decade. As long as he keeps that special touch on the tracks, the success of his old and new tracks will live on forever.

Classic For The Weekend: Push – Universal Nation

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bffgi9nN5tE&w=680&h=491]

This weeks classic is one of the true classics in trance music. I’m talking about Push – Universal Nation. First released in 1998 and known as one of the biggest trance anthems and have been played by most major Djs and is still played every now and then. (Buy on Itunes)

Goosebump-moments:

0:28 when the bassdrum kicks in
1:09 when the drums fade and the main synth tweaks
2:19 when the bassdrum kicks in after the break
3:01 when the snares speed up and the Whooh comes in
5:48 when the drums stop
6:02 when everything starts to fades out
6:45 when the robotic voice comes in
7:11 when the Whooh comes in and is followed by a bassdrum and the sounds starts to fade up again
8:06 when the Whooh comes in and is followed by the main drumline

Belgian born Dirk Dierickx (now known as Mike Dierickx after changing his name in 2000) started his music career at the age of 11 when he first saw the potential of what he could do with samplers and keyboards but it wasnt until the age of 18 that he first got signed to the label USA Import Music after handing them his demo. Shortly after he released his first EP, Vision Act – A New Sign (together with Frank Van Den Driessche).

Over the years, Mike has been using 65 aliases, much depending on style and collaboration-partners. The most wellknown aliases are Push, M.I.K.E., Plastic Boy and Absolute.

Mike has been using the Push-name since 1994 when he released the first single, Acid Hysteria
came out on USA Import Music but it wasnt until the release of The Real Anthem (later known as Universal Nation) in 1998 on Bonzai Records that the big things started to happen.

Universal Nation did well in the charts and got really positive reviews. First released in France, Spain and Germany and in 1999 most other European countries followed (UK, Italy, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands).

Due to the several individual releases, the song has three different titles: Universal Nation, Universal Nation ’99 and Universal Nation (The Real Anthem). The success of Universal Nation gave Push several awards, major chart-success and put focus on Belgian dancemusic.

Worth noticing is that the vocal/robotic-sample in the middle break, ”proceed with visual attack formation” is sampled from the 1984 film The Last Starfighter.

In 1999, Push released both Cosmonautica and Till We Meet Again, the latter is a tribute to Marino Stephano, a fellow Belgian that died on the way to the studio to record with Push. Too bad no one will ever know what could have come out of that collaboration. Till We Meet Again is one of my personal alltime-favourites.

The 2000 album, From Beyond is IMHO a legendary album. Containing such hits as Universal Nation, Strange World, Cosmonautica, Till We Meet Again, Tranzy State Of Mind and The Legacy on the same album is madness!

Electro Fever 9:35
Universal Nation 7:52
Strange World 7:12
Travelogue 8:28
Cosmonautica 7:05
Till We Meet Again… 8:33
Tranzy State Of Mind 6:55
The Legacy 8:45
Live On 8:17
Outro 0:47

The followup-single, Strange World became a huge chartsuccess and once again, Push topped the dancecharts in Europe. It even became the official theme to Trance Energy in 2001. The single differs from the album version which is abit more laid back.

The Legacy, released in 2001 became another huge success, both in the clubs and in the charts and was later followed by the single Tranzy State Of Mind in 2002.

2002 also saw the new-ish album, Strange World, which actually was a re-release of the first album, From Beyond but with some newer versions of the tracks and a few remixes.

Intro 0:27
Strange World (2000 Remake) 7:23
The Legacy (Club Mix) 5:03
Universal Nation (Tall Paul Remix) 5:03
Travelogue 6:02
Electro Fever 6:53
Cosmonautica (12″ Mix) 5:24
Till We Meet Again (Vocal Mix) 3:28
Tranzy State Of Mind (Club Mix) 6:15
Universal Nation (Ferry Corsten Remix) 2:58
The Legacy (Svenson & Gielen Remix) 4:11
Live On 6:11
Strange World (2000 Reprise) 3:14
Outro 0:50
Tranceformation (Push Trancendental Vocal Mix) / Push Vs. Globe 7:50

It was also the year that the single Push vs Globe – Tranceformation came out.

The 2003 release, Journey Of Life was another epic trance track which later was followed by Push’s third album, Electric Eclipse and the new singles Electric Eclipse and R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Intro 1:11
R.E.S.P.E.C.T. 8:25
Imagine 6:08
Electric Eclipse (Original Mix) 7:57
Journey Of Life (Original Mix) 9:07
Trance-Parent 6:37
Blue Midnight 7:38
Universal Nation 2003 7:50
TRANCEFORMATION (vs. Globe) 6:36
Strange World (Tranquilo’s Chill Out Mix) 5:39
United We Stand 8:45

After this, there was a huge gap until 2008 when Push’s new EP, Universal Voice EP came out. In the gap, Pushed worked mostly on M.I.K.E.-productions which can be heard in the sound of the new releases.

What I really liked with the older releases was the dark but yet warm sound and the epic buildups while the new tracks lack most of that.

The 2009 Global Age album was Push’s fourth album and IMHO the least good of the albums. This saw a more progressive sound and IMHO the edge that got me hooked to Push had disappeared.

The last few years, all the effort has been put into M.I.K.E. And Plastic Boy. The sound of the new releases are pretty decent but when I want to hear really good music, I rather put on an old Push-track. The epic sound of old Push will never die, at least not in my mind!

Classic for the weekend: Tiesto featuring BT – Love Comes Again

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aezttQNJXyo&w=680&h=491]

The next featured DJ needs no introduction. Voted best DJ in the world 2002-2004, founder of Black Hole Records (together with Arny Bink), the In Search Of Sunrise-compilations, performer at the summer olympics in athens. I’m ofcourse talking about Tijs Michiel Verwest or Tiësto which is the name most people know him under.

The track features in this weekends classic is Tiesto featuring BT – Love Comes Again (with BT on vocals) (buy on Itunes)

Goosebump-moments:

1:12 when the main bass kicks in
1:41 when only the main kick and bass is heard
2:09 when the vocals starts
3:04 when the main synth comes in
4:18 after the breakdown when the vocals only are heard
4:46 and onward after the main synth kicks in again

Lyrics:

You have become what you have always been
light flickering around, peripheral vision
no words we can speak, our paths have been chosen
but all trails that we trek,
-should lead us back to here because our

love comes again
just when i’ve broken down i found
love can come again
you’ve got to believe that

love comes again
just when i’ve broken down i found
love can come again

dig within me, turn all the secret stones
forests and fields, breathing with blood and bones
still no words we can speak, our paths have been chosen
but all trails that we trek,
-should lead us back to here because our

love comes again
just when i’ve broken down i found
love can come again
you’ve got to believe that

love comes again
just when i’ve broken down i found
love can come again

Dutch born DJ/Producer started his musical career in the mid 90´s, then producing hardcore/gabber under the aliases Da Joker and DJ Limited. It was first after creating Black Hole Records in 1997 with collegue Arny Bink that the path to trance begun.

His first own release on the label was Theme From Norefjell, the first track of many with production partner Dennis Waakop Reijers. Early stuff from the label included the Magik-series and a few productions under the name Allure (together with Wouter and Sjoerd Janssen from Showtek and David van den Hurk.

His second single on Black Hole was Sparkles and that was followed by the collaboration with Armin Van Buuren under the name Major League with the single Wonder Where You Are.

Meanwhile working on his own tracks, Tiesto managed to release some legendary tracks together with Ferry Corsten under the Gouryella-moniker and also Benno De Goeij under the Kamaya Painters-moniker. He also released the In Trance We Trust-compilation that made way for many of todays biggest trance artists like Ferry Corsten, Armin Van Buuren and Johan Gielen to the mainstream crowd.

In 2000, Tijs left Gouryella and Kamaya Painters to concentrate on own material. This later resulted in the legendary 2001 album In My Memory, the first release on his sub-label, Magik Muzik.
The now legendary album contained such hits as In My Memory, Flight 643, Lethal Industry and Suburban Train, all huge hits in the trance-scene.

The 2003 live dvd Tiësto in Concert is IMHO a must-have in every trance-freaks collection.

But it wasn’t until the second album, Just Be and his gig at the opening of the Summer Olympics in Athens that his worldwide commercial fame came. Tijs was asked by the officials of the The Athens Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (ATHOC) to play at the opening after they had seen his 2003 Tiesto In Concert-video. Rumour has it that he played for free as he thought this was lifetime opportunity to reach out to the bigger mass. The 90 minute gig was seen by 72.000 people in the audience, 15.000 athletes and millions of people in their tv-sofas worldwide.
The Summer Olympics-tracks were later mixed together and released as Parade of the Athletes.

The Just Be-album contained loads of gems like Love Comes Again (with BT), Traffic, Nyana, UR (with Aqualung), Just Be (with singer Kirsty Hawkshaw) and his version of Samuel Barbers classical track Adagio For Strings.

The result of Tijs hard work got him voted Best DJ from 2002-2004 by the readers of DJ Magazine. No DJ before him had got the no1 spot for 3 years in a row and he held the record until 2010 when Armin Van Buuren got voted Best DJ 4 times in a row.

A cool fact is that Tijs was dubbed Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in 2004

In 2005, Tijs went on tour around most of central- and eastern europe, playing for 10.000-15.000 people at every stop. That’s not much when you compare to his 2005 gig at Sensation White in The Netherlands where he performed for over 45.000 people.
He also went on an US tour which later, in 2006 resulted in the mix-album In Search Of Sunrise 5: Los Angeles. The compilation was released at the 2006 Winter Music Conference in downtown South Beach, Miami.

Tijs was also chosen as the official ambassador for the Dance4Life foundation in May 2006, and released the song ”Dance4Life” with Maxi Jazz to help spread the awareness of HIV/AIDS

2007 saw the release of Tijs third album, Elements Of Life which is the most commercial of the albums so far. He teamed up with vocalist Christian Burns (from the band BBMak) for the track In The Dark, Maxi Jazz (from Faithless) for the single Dance4Life, JES for Everything and Julie Thimpson for Do You Feel Me. He also collaborated with BT for the tracks Bright Morningstar, Sweet Things, and BT also sung the vocals on the single, Break My Fall.

The album went very well in the charts and later gave Tijs a nomination for the Grammy Awards in 2007 for best electronic/dance album.

The fourth album, Kaleidoscope, released in 2009 was a step more into electro and house with collaborations with Calvin Harris, Sneaky Sound System, Cary Brothers and Nelly Furtado. The album went high in the charts worldwide and a few singles were released, like I Will Be Here, Feel It In My Bones and Who Wants To Be Alone just to name a few. The album was the first on Tijs new imprint, Musical Freedom which he started after parting with Black Hole Records as his new style wasn’t what Blach Hole usually released.

Kaleidoscope is IMHO the most boring album he’s done.

In 2010, Tijs released Magikal Journey: The Hits Collection 1998–2008, which contains all the classics that made him famous.

Worth noticing is that Tijs released the Allure-album, Kiss From The Past in 2011 which were a step back to his trancier side

Also worth noticing is his remix-work through the years which includes classics like

1999 BT – Dreaming
1999 Binary Finary — 1999 (as Gouryella)
2000 Salt Tank – Eugina
2000 SuReal — You Take My Breath Away
2000 Sarah McLachlan — Sweet Surrender
2000 Delerium — Silence
2001 Jan Johnston — Flesh
2001 Faithless — Tarantula
2001 DuMonde — Never Look Back
2001 Coast 2 Coast — Home
2001 Abnea — Velvet Moods
2002 Roc Project — Never
2002 Paul Oakenfold — Southern Sun
2002 Moby — We Are All Made of Stars
2002 Moby — Extreme Ways
2002 Mauro Picotto — Pulsar
2002 Lost Witness — Did I Dream
2002 Kosheen — Hungry
2002 Conjure One — Tears from the Moon
2003 Skin — Faithfulness
2003 Radiohead — Street Spirit
2003 Madonna — Die Another Day
2003 Kane — Rain Down on Me
2004 BT — The Force of Gravity
2006 Klaus Badelt — He’s a Pirate
2006 Tiësto — Dance4life
2006 José González — Crosses
2007 Imogen Heap — Hide & Seek
2007 JES — Imagination
2007 Justin Timberlake — LoveStoned/I Think She Knows
2007 Seal — The Right Life
2008 Cary Brothers — Ride

IMHO, Tijs glory days are over but i’m so glad that he left us some major classics so we can look back on the good old days with a huuuge smile.

Classic for the weekend: Moonman – Galaxia

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzmLnGWzqtw&w=680&h=491]

Dutch superstar-DJ Ferry Corsten has always been one of my favourite Djs/Producer so it was pretty hard to choose which track to write about. With some 20 aliases and several huge collaborations in projects like Vimana & Gouryella (with Tiesto), Veracocha (with Vincent De Moor) & Starparty (with Robert Smit).

After some thinking I ended up with one of his first major hits. I’m talking about Moonman – Galaxia.

The track, released back in 1996 was on Ferrys first major chartrelease, Moonman – Don’t Be Afraid, but only as a B-side. Before the Moonman-project, Ferry had released some other tracks in various styles, including Gabber. With the success of Moonman, Ferry took the step into Club-House and Trance.

People who bought Don’t Be Afraid loved Galaxia more than the original so the record-company decided to release Galaxia in 1996 as a single, now with remixes by DJ Errik, Quattara & Crimson Dawn. It was even released as a vocal track with vocals from Chantal.

The really big breakthrough came in 2000 with the Solar Stone remix which was the version most major Djs played and is still playing.

A fun fact about Galaxia is that Ferry remade it as a chillout-track called ”symphonic remake” that was played before the ceremony at his wedding in 2002. The same version is also included on his Infinite Euphoria compilation released back in 2004.

Moonman only released 3 singles, the last single was First Light and released in 1997.

1997 also saw Ferry and producer partner Robert Smit starting their own label dedicated to dance music, Tsunami.. Tsunami was a sublabel to Purple Eye Entertainment b.v. On the label, Ferry released most of his major releases, including System F & Gouryella.

From 1998 and onward, Ferrys biggest project was System F. The first single, Out Of The Blue became an instant hit and also the title of the first album.

The single, first released as a white label in december of 1998 had its official release in 1999 with some remixes. But all major Djs only played the original. Later in 1999, Ferry released a version called 5AM Remix which also got some major airplay.

Out Of The Blue is one of those tracks where you sing along with the non-excisting lyrics, usually a major goosebump-moment!

A cool fact is that superstar-DJ Paul Oakenfold had the original white label but lost it before hearing it. After hearing other Djs played it, he had to have it so he bought it off a friend for 1.500 Dutch Guldens (now about € 750,-).

The second System F-single, Cry (together with Robert Smit) featured vocalist Saskia Lie-Atjam came out in 2000 with remixes from Ferry Corsten, Oliver Lieb & Rank 1 just to name a few. The single toped some charts including #20 in the UK charts.

The next major release was under the Gouryella-moniker (together with Tiesto. Their first single, Gouryella was released in May 1999 and came with an awesome Armin Van Buuren-remix, simply namned Armix. The single reaced #15 in the UK charts.

The second single, Walhalla also became a chart-stomper with a #27 position in the UK charts. The original was without vocals but was later re-released with vocals from Rachel Spier.
IMHO, the vocals ruin the track and I prefer the non vocal version.

In the beginning of 2000, Gouryella released Tenshi, and after this track, Tiesto left the project. There was also a fourth single, Ligaya released in 2002, but this time Ferry was alone. It featured Patty Gaddum on vocals.

Another project worth mentioning is Veracocha (together with Vincent De Moor). They only released two track, Carte Blanche and Drafting in 1999. Carte Blanche made a huuge impact on the trance-scene and is still getting fresh remixes but IMHO, the original is the best.

From 2001, Ferry put most of his effort into the System F-project and saw the release of his first album, Out Of The Blue which featured so many classics.

Tracklist:

1. Lost In Motion
2. Indian Summer
3. Out Of The Blue
4. Elevate
5. Insolation
6. Cry
7. Needljuice
8. Soul On Soul
9. Exhale
10. Solstice
11. Mode Confusion
12. Cry Unplugged

The same year also saw the release of the singles, Exhale (with Armin Van Buuren), Soul On Soul (with singer Marc Almond) and Dance Valley Theme, all major hits.
In 2002, System F released Solstice and Needle Juice and the year also saw the first release under his own namn, Ferry Corsten with the single, Punk.

The year after still saw some System F-releases like Together / Ignition, Sequence, Start!, Spaceman and Spread Your Wings / Reaching Your Soul aswell as the first Ferry Corsten Album, Right Of Way.

Tracklist:

1. ”Sublime” – 7:46
2. ”Whatever!” – 4:47
3. ”Rock Your Body, Rock” – 5:15
4. ”Right of Way” – 7:46
5. ”Kyoto” – 6:10
6. ”Holding On (feat. Shelley Harland)” – 3:47
7. ”Sweet Sorrow” – 6:15
8. ”Hearts Connected” – 6:37
9. ”Punk” – 4:45
10. ”It’s Time” – 5:22
11. ”Show Your Style (feat. Birgit)” – 3:10
12. ”Star Traveller” – 6:13
13. ”Skindeep” – 3:44
14. ”In My Dreams” – 6:03

Punk, Rock Your Body, Rock and It’s Time became huge chart-successes in the UK.
2004 saw the release of the singles Everything Goes, Right Of Way and Sweet Sorrow
.
In 2005, Ferry started his own label, Flashover Recording and the single Fire was the first on the new imprint. Fire featured Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran-fame on song.

They year after, the second Ferry Corsten album saw the light of day, L.E.F. The title of the album stands for Loud Electronic Ferocious and sees Ferry going deeper into the electro-trance-path that he took with the first album. It features a new version of Punk with new vocals by Guru (of Gang Starrfame) called Junk. Junk did well in the charts, including the dutch chart where it was featured in the top 20. The album also featured Into The Dark (with Howard Jones on vocals) which is an alltime classic IMHO.

In 2007, Ferry premiered his own radio show, Corstens Countdown. It also saw the first version of Full On Ferry-event.

The third album, Twice In A Blue Moon, released in september 2008 had its official release at the second Full On Ferry-gig. It featured the singles Brain Box, We Belong (with Maria Nayler on vocals), Radio Crash & Made Of Love (with Betsie Larkin on vocals).

My favourite from the album is without no doubt Made Of Love. The track were supposed to be an instrumental but Ferry felt that it needed vocals after testplaying it on some gigs.

The album came out as a remixed album, called Twice In A Blue Moon Remixed with remixes from Rafael Frost, Lange, Solarstone, Ummet Özcan, Ashley Wallbridge and Markus Schulz just to name a few.

Meanwhile doing all his tracks, Ferry has been busy remixing other peoples material. Here is just a few picks:

Apoptygma Berzerk – Kathy’s Song
Art of Trance – Madagascar
Ayumi Hamasaki – WHATEVER
Bobina – Invisible Touch (Ferry Corsten’s Touch)
BT – Force Of Gravity (Ferry Corsten Remix)
BT – Suddenly (Ferry Corsten’s Fix)
Corderoy – Sweetest Dreams (Ferry Corsten Remix)
Cosmic Gate – The Truth (Ferry Corsten Remix)
Duran Duran – Reach Up For The Sunrise (Ferry Corsten Remix)
Embrace – Embrace
Faithless feat. Boy George – Why Go (Ferry Corsten Remix)
Faithless feat. Dido – Feelin Good (Ferry Corsten Fix)
Kai Tracid – Conscious (Ferry Corsten Remix)
Kamaya Painters – Endless Wave (Albion Remix)
The Killers – Human
Markus Schulz – Do You Dream (Ferry Corsten Remix)
Matt Darey presents Mash Up – Liberation (Ferry Corsten Remix)
Moby – In My Heart
Moby – Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad
Nelly Furtado – Do It (Ferry Corsten Remix)
Novastar – Because The Remix
Oceanlab – Clear Blue Water
Rank 1 – Awakening (Ferry Corsten Remix)
Shiny Toy Guns – Le Disko (Ferry Corsten Remix)
Solarstone-Late Summer Fields(Ferry Corsten Remix)
Tiësto – Kaleidoscope (Ferry Corsten Remix)
U2 – New Year’s Day
William Orbit – Barber’s Adagio for Strings
William Orbit – Ravel’s Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte (Ferry Corsten Remix)

2011 saw the release of 3 new singles, Feel It & Check It Out. It also saw the collaboration between Ferry and old friend Armin Van Buuren for the single Brute.

The latest album, WKND, released in 2012 features some promising new vocal tracks. I’m guessing that 2012 will be a ”ferry” big year for Ferry and hopefully it won’t be the last you hear from him.

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